What Tony Abbott promises if you make him Prime Minister of Australia

Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott spoke at the National Press Club on 31 January 2012 and imparted his vision for Australia should the Coalition win the 2013 federal election.

After a predictable attack on the Gillard Government (which according to him has completely failed to appreciate the iron law of economics that no country has ever taxed its way to prosperity) he swung into a pitch redolent with the perfume of American Tea Party politics in that television viewers were treated to the prospect of smaller government, lower taxes and greater freedom and, of course, stopping the boats.

A golden future was apparently only as far away as a light at the end of the tunnel, because in the Coalition we're patriots.

Decoding this patriotic light was rather revealing.

To get to this future Abbott was promising not to promise Medicare-funded universal dental care or a national disability insurance.

He also assured voters that any tax cuts pledge made today was at least four years down the road before it came into effect. Around 2017 if these cuts happened at all – because implementation apparently requires the projected 2012-13 budget deficit to all but disappear and, the precise timing and the precise quantum is something that we will announce in good time.

He told his audience that he would also impose an est. $2.7 billion per annum new tax on the business sector in order to change the paid parental leave scheme legislated by Federal Labor.**

Abbott revealed  that under any government led by him there would be cuts to unspecified federal services, programs and funding, as well as increased privatisation of service delivery. Apparently he intends to cut somewhere in the vicinity of $12 billion a year off the budget bottom line this way, while at the same time committing to new spending around $10 billion each financial year.**

This new $10 billion supplied by taxpayers is going towards Abbott’s emissions reduction fund - which will be paid to business for what they are already doing without any additional government subsidy.

He made it clear that as prime minister he would support persons and families having aspiration (especially those privately educating their children), at the same time make life difficult for those with mental illness or physical incapacity if they happen to be parked on the disability pension.Tough love for the young who take the dole is also favoured.

Abbott ended this strange but predictable ramble with: People should be in public life for the right reasons. Mine are to serve our country, to stand up for the things I believe in, to do the right thing by my fellow Australians as best I can, to build a nation that will inspire us more and to lead a government that will disappoint us less.

His own speech and, the question and answer period which followed, indicates that he is already failing these lofty personal aims.

** Tony Abbott did not dispute these figures offered to him in the question and answer period.

Photograph from The Sydney Morning Herald.

U.S. Presidential Election 2012: Rude Music sues Newt 2012 Inc & American Conservative Union for copyright infringement

U.S. District Court filing of 30^th January 2012

Republican presidential candidate hopeful Newt Gingrich has found himself in hot water and his campaign machine before the courts for unauthorised use of the song Eye of the Tiger.

YouTube quickly ditched those Gingrich campaign video clips which contained the song.

A first: seat-belted bus to run on a local school route in the Coffs Harbour area

High school students travelling by bus between Glenreagh and Coffs Harbour will now have the added protection of seat belts.

The Coffs Coast Advocate reported that Sawtell Coaches, which operates a fleet of school buses in the Coffs area has purchased a new bus fitted with seat-belts, GPS tracking, an electronic tacograph and surveillance cameras.

The manager of Sawtell Coaches, Darren Williams, said the company had made a commercial, possibly controversial, decision given the NSW Government's Bus Safety Review had not yet been completed.

"We made the decision because we knew this service was on the government's lists of dangerous rural bus routes," Mr Williams said.
"We will be monitoring students' behaviour very closely and taking a hard line with any who do not comply with the instructions to wear the seat belts.
"Students who are moving around will be given three warnings and then be told 'to take a holiday from the bus'."

Valla parent Jan Gill, who has been campaigning for more safety on school buses, said the new bus was a welcome initiative.
 "We all hope this marks the beginning of a new trend with other bus companies, especially those that travel on the highway," Ms Gill said

Ms Gill's letter to the editor of The Coffs Advocate is below:

Belts on buses

I commend Darren Williams, manager of Sawtell Coaches, for buying a new, safe bus fitted with seatbelts for a school bus route identified as high risk.

This highly responsible and community-minded initiative is greatly appreciated by parents, who would like to see all school buses travelling on dangerous routes upgraded so they suit the conditions.

The horrific crash at Urunga earlier this month and the heavy rain we are now experiencing highlight the risks faced by those who live and travel in this region, particularly on the Pacific Hwy.

I would like to see Busways management take the same approach Mr Williams has taken to keep children safe.

Busways has several school buses travelling south of Urunga on the highway.

It's time they replaced the school buses that have low-backed unpadded seats, with vehicles that have safety features fit for our conditions, including seatbelts.

Jan Gill, Valla Beach

Source: The Coffs Coast Advocate 

Don't laugh - we are Christians!

Teaching the overly sensitive Mr. Smith about the Streisand Effect....

The Telegraph on 31 January 2012:

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has confirmed to news.com.au that it is investigating a satirical interview by comedians John Clarke and Brian Dawe, which went to air at the end of ABC's 7.30 program on October 27 last year.

ABC has stood by the program and dismissed the investigation as "routine".

Perth school teacher Simon Smith told news.com.au he complained to ABC and the broadcasting watchdog after he saw the skit last year.

He objected to its portrayal of Christians.

"You can clearly see that they are vilifying Christians as insensitive, callous and uncaring with clear inferences to the Opposition front bench and Tony Abbott, many who are Catholics," he claimed.

"I just sat there for a minute and I thought, they've really overstepped the mark”.

The Canberra Problem and "Dr Saulways-Wright"
Originally aired on ABC TV's 7.30: 27/10/2011

http://youtu.be/_SOipK0rRec

Quote of the Week - Political Catchphrases

“with 'pro-life' perhaps the most offensive of all. Is anyone out there 'pro-death'? Can anyone be rustled up who is 'anti-life'?”

{The Loon Pond on 30th^th January 2012}

Australia Day in South Korea

Chalk up another success for a Yamba export.

No, Yamba prawns were not on the menu when the Australia Chamber of Commerce celebrated Australia National Day at the Grand Ambassador hotel in Gangnam, southern Seoul, on Friday.

But, another Yamba product, in the shape of Wayne Golding, whom The Korea Herald described as ""an Australian culinary wizard", prepared the feast. Golding is executive chef at the Grand Ambassador.

Golding told The Korea Herald that he wanted everyone to feel that they were eating a traditional Australia Day meal.

Participants were greeted with a Down Under theme as cabanas decorated one side of the room and Aussie favorites like fish and chips and meat pies were served. No day marking the country’s birthday would be complete without a good old fashion Aussie barbeque.

Paul Matthews provided this review of Golding for 10mag.com :

When I step into The King’s Premium Live Buffet at the Grand Ambassador Hotel, I’m overwhelmed. Confronted by mountains of seafood, roast ducks and a walk-in dessert cabinet, I want to dig in straight away. But I resist, since the main attraction here is Australian Executive Chef Wayne Golding, who has transformed this thirty-five-year old restaurant into something extraordinary.

Hailing from the small town of Yamba in New South Wales, Golding started out in his father’s footsteps as a fisherman. He worked nights on the boats and studied during the day. After flirtations with carpentry, metal fabrication and architecture, he turned to the kitchen, rising up the ranks at a breakneck pace. From Yamba, he went to Sydney, then onto Dubai and Hanoi, before he found himself at the Paradise Hotel in Busan and his Korean career really began. He has been living here for the past seven years and has been working at the Grand Ambassador since 2009.

He is committed to making King’s the best buffet in the country, and he is bringing some exciting new ideas to the dining table. At King’s, everything is “live,” meaning that instead of lukewarm trays filled with congealed sauces, you can expect your food freshly cooked to order in front of your eyes. He has assembled a crack team of chefs to assist him, including a Chinese station complete with a dim sum expert, a roast meats master and a wok specialist. He has also ensured that seafood fans can get oysters all year round and that all the produce at King’s is the freshest it can be.

It wasn’t always that easy to source exotic fresh ingredients in Korea, and Chef Golding remembers when he used to have to scour the department stores in order to source the best products available. However, his job is a little easier now and he has even managed get a supply of fresh shrimp for the restaurant. As a fisherman’s son, he knows that there’s a big difference in taste between fresh and frozen.

The King’s Premium Live Buffet is in good hands with this Yamba boy, who knows the importance of “live” food and treats his customers to one of the best hotel buffets in Seoul.

Credits: The Korea Herald and 10mag.com

Member for Clarence says, "I didn't lie"

Chris Gulaptis, the Member for Clarence, says a group claiming he'd said the O'Farrell Government had set aside $300 million for a new Grafton bridge either misunderstood what he was saying or didn't understand the budgetary process.

"If they think I have lied to them I apologise for that, but I certainly didn't lie to them," he said. [Daily Examiner, 31/1/12]

Seems the message sent from the mouth of the MP and the message that arrived at the ears of members of the group was not one and the same thing. Who do you believe?

Read today's Daily Examiner report here.